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Parliament’s groups finalise positions on asylum package

Political groups in the European Parliament are finalising their positions on a controversial package of measures on asylum ahead of a vote on Thursday (7 May) that could see asylum-seekers transferred within the EU from overburdened member states.

The asylum package, proposed by the European Commission in December, sets common standards across the EU on how asylum-seekers should be treated, where their applications should be heard and how information on third countries can be exchanged between member states. It states they should have access to the labour market six months after making an asylum application, sets criteria for their detention and obliges governments to take gender, age and special needs into consideration when allocating housing.

When MEPs on the civil liberties committee voted last week (27 April) on the package, they made some controversial additions to the Commission proposal, including a mandatory solidarity clause that would see member states taking in asylum-seekers from over-burdened member states. Another change would force member states faced with particular pressure to accept assistance from officials from other member states whenever they ask for the suspension of the transfer of asylum seekers back to their territory (known as the Dublin Convention).

The asylum package has been fast-tracked by the Parliament with final approval expected during Thursday’s vote, albeit with more amendments. Member states are still discussing the package in the Council of Ministers and are not expected to come up with a common position before the European Parliament elections in June. Germany and Austria are expected to take a hard line on suspension of the Dublin Convention, while others are expected to challenge the obligations on housing and detention criteria.

Fact File

The asylum package consists of four reports:

• One by Antonio Masip Hidalgo, a Spanish Socialist MEP, on the reception conditions member states are obliged to provide to asylum seekers, their access to the labour market and the criteria under which they can be detained• One on the Dublin Convention by Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, a Dutch Liberal MEP, which sets deadlines to make the procedure quicker, allows appeals against transfers and allows for states to suspend transfers if they are experiencing particular pressure on their system.• A third report by Nicolae Vlad Popa, a Romanian centre-right MEP, which sets down data protection rules on Eurodac, the database which stores fingerprints of asylum-seekers, and requires member states to delete the data once it is no longer needed.• A fourth report by Jean Lambert, a UK Green MEP, on a proposal to set up a European Asylum Support Office allows member states to exchange of information on third countries and would help the training of staff involved in asylum decision-making process.

The fate of Parliament’s approved document in the new parliament is uncertain. Criticisms of the rushed approach taken by current MEPs suggest ulterior motives, including the sensitivity of asylum and immigration in some countries in the upcoming elections.

Groups campaigning for asylum-seekers’ rights are concerned at some of the changes already made to the Commission’s proposal by the civil liberties committee vote. This removed a clause that would ban unaccompanied minors from being transferred back to member states where they first made their asylum claim. It also lifted the obligation to provide information in a language understandable to an asylum seeker on the judicial proceedings on detention.